Tounkan namo in Guinea: The Hero

After the death of his father all Mamadou Alpha wanted was to get his mother out of poverty and become her hero: the perfect son, the man of the family. At 18, he embarked on a dangerous migration route to Europe they call “the adventure”, or “tounkan” in the local Malinke language. Thousands of adventurers die trying to cross the Mediterranean in search of a better life. But Mamadou survived and was forcefully returned home. Yet, he considers his fate worse than death.

In this episode, we used music by Ba Cissoko. With original reporting and editing by Makeme Bamba in Conakry, Guinea and Naira Davlashyan, Marta Rodriguez Martinez, Lillo Montalto Monella & Arwa Barkallah in Lyon, Mame Peya Diaw in Nairobi, Lory Martinez in Paris, France and Clitzia Sala in London, UK. Production Design by Studio Ochenta. Theme by Gabriel Dalmasso. Special thanks to our producer Natalia Oelsner for collecting the music for this episode. Our editor-in-chief is Yasir Khan.

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